Five Minutes of Freedom
by Yumi-Ulrich4ever
Summary: When arriving back home early one night, Soul happens upon one of Maka's strange habits. One-Shot Implied Soul/Maka


**A/N: Not really sure where this came from, but enjoy! =) I tried my hardest to keep it as in character as possible.**

**Warnings: Nudity.. You have been warned.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.  
**

The cackling sun had already sunk beneath Death City's horizon when Soul approached the door to the small house he and Maka shared. He was home earlier than expected from his weekly "cool guy hangout" (or so they called it) with Black*Star due to Tsubaki falling ill and her technician insisting he stay with her.

"_Big guys like me don't get sick," he had declared, "so it's only fair that I would support someone whose immune system can't surpass God like mine." _

Soul had just laughed and agreed, fully aware that in reality the assassin was just worried about Tsubaki. Even with his overwhelming ego, he had always maintained a soft spot for his weapon.

Turning the doorknob and entering the brightly lit living area, the scythe was met with silence and an empty room. This was surprising only because he expected to find Maka perched in her usual spot on the couch, engrossed in a book. She was, however, not present, so Soul made his way over and plopped down with a heavy sigh of contentment. Without his uptight roommate around, he was allowed some freedom. Freedom to put his feet on the coffee table, freedom to leave his glass of soda out, freedom to strum his digits on the cover of a book (one of the only things books were really useful for, he decided) in rhythm of a new song he was concocting without his female counterpart complaining that he was making too much noise while she was reading, or worse, seizing the novel and smashing it into his head.

Five minutes of freedom could be glorious.

Soul jumped a little when he heard movement approaching from down the hall. Ah, so he wasn't alone after all. He listened to her quiet humming and feet padding lightly toward him until she was almost into the room.

"Hey Maka, I'm back ear-"

All coherent thoughts were instantly blown to bits when he looked up from the floor to face his meister.

Because there was Maka, standing in the living room entrance.

**Completely **_**naked**_**.**

Soul thought he was going to die.

For a single moment, no one moved. No one spoke. They both just _stared_.

Him in astonishment. Her in embarrassment.

Maybe it was his male hormones reacting to an unclothed woman, or maybe it was just his brain informing him that there was no way in hell this would ever happen, so it must be a dream to take advantage of, but whichever it was, Soul could not take his eyes off of her.

They started at her ten tiny toes and wandered up her thin legs, moving further in admiration of the way her slender hips curved into her navel. He had never so badly wanted to touch someone as he did when he allowed himself to visually roam over the pale, soft flesh that stretched over her stomach. If his face hadn't already been burning like wildfire, it was certainly incinerated now, as red eyes followed the line of her midriff upwards and settled on her chest.

Despite any unspoken feelings he may have harbored towards his technician, he had never allowed himself to really dwell on how _beautiful_ she was. She had always been nice enough looking, but his thoughts never surpassed that. They had been partners for a long time, but he couldn't recall when Maka had grown from the child he met at the academy to the young woman who stood before him. Sure, he had held her in his arms enough times to know the feeling of her body, but seeing it now, bare and exposed, was an entirely different story. It didn't matter how hard he tried; he could not bring himself to peel his eyes away from her unclothed form.

That was, of course, until his head came in contact with a dictionary.

"S-S-SOUL!" Maka shrieked, finally recovering her voice and quickly enveloping herself in a fleece blanket lying on the nearby chair, "what are you doing?"

"What am _I _doing? What the hell are _you_ doing, you idiot?" he exclaimed with his eyes wide in bewilderment and rubbing the sore spot on his head, "why don't you have any clothes on?"

Maka, with an equally crimson flush coloring her face, huffed in response, "I just got out of the shower a few minutes ago."

Well that explained why her hair was wet, but not why she had vacated the bathroom to go wandering bare-assed around their house.

"I…I didn't think you'd be home this early…"she mumbled through a grimace, eyes glued to the floor.

"That still doesn't mean you should be naked! Other people live here, y'know."

"I know that! I just said I thought you weren't coming home until later!"

"SO? What about Blair? She lives here, too!"

"Blair is a _cat_," she retorted, "AND a female," she added when he tried to argue again. "Besides…Blair wears practically nothing all the time and I don't see _you_ complaining, except maybe when your face gets all bloodied."

Was that _jealousy_ laced in with the anger? If it was, Soul didn't really get a chance to dwell on it; he was still too busy trying to make sense of the bizarre situation he had managed to get himself into.

"That's…different. You and Blair aren't the same…"

"Oh, so now I'm not allowed to walk around my own house naked, because she's prettier than me? Or is it because her chest isn't flat, huh Soul?"

"WHAT? Now you're putting words in my mouth; I didn't say that!" Soul jumped off the couch and threw his hands on her bare shoulders, shaking her form with each word, "Maka, what the hell has gotten into you?"

There was a moment of stillness before Soul noticed how close he was to Maka, and remembered how naked she was under the thin blanket she held desperately to herself. Both parties turned away from one-another, cheeks blushing and eyes averted.

"Look, this has nothing to do with anyone but you," the weapon finally stated, "I was just…startled…that's all. How often do you make it a habit to walk around naked anyways?"

Maka ducked her head letting her eyes hide behind a curtain of bangs, "Whenever you're not home, really."

Soul stared in disbelief. "Are you serious? How is it this hasn't happened before?"

"I don't know; I'm usually careful! You just had to show up early…"

"Well maybe if I knew you were going to be gallivanting around the house in your birthday suit I would have made other plans!"

"I just like the freedom!" She exclaimed, almost throwing her arms in the air in exasperation before realizing her only covering started to fall off.

"I'm sorry, come again?" Soul arched an eyebrow at her declaration.

She sighed in annoyance, "the freedom to do what I want. The freedom to not have anyone else telling me who to be. It's just the little stuff. Disregarding the…naked…part, I know you know what I mean. I see you stick your feet up on the tables when I leave the room." She giggled when he sheepishly tried to deny it. "I just like to be able to feel…exposed…once in a while without anyone else judging me…without _me _judging me."

He shot her a curious glance at that. She shrugged.

"I just don't look like the other girls…y'know?" she idly glanced down at herself before hugging the blanket self-consciously, as if in hopes it would fuse with her skin. "I'm not…_pretty_…" she started, weakly, "and it's nice to, for a few minutes, have the freedom to feel comfortable in my own body without having to compare myself to the other students. Do you understand?"

Her green eyes were so open he was taken aback. Maka was never one to share her insecurities with anyone, even her partner. But here she was, stripped of her defenses and trusting him to respond…trusting him not to laugh.

But when a moment had passed and there was no response from her companion, Maka faced the floor again. "Never mind…I'm going to go get dressed..." but she had only turned to walk away when a warm hand gingerly grabbed her wrist.

"Maka, being self-conscious isn't cool." She was about to retort when he pulled her abruptly into his arms.

"S-s-s-oul! What are-"

"You're beautiful," he murmured into her damp mess of hair, "so don't let yourself tell you otherwise."

He pulled back, met with his meister's face flushing furiously and green eyes the size of saucers, and flashed her a toothy grin.

"Oi Maka, next time you decide to take your five minutes of freedom, give me a heads up first, will ya?"

She gave a nod and turned to leave again.

"Oh hey, and Maka?"

"Yeah?"

"You definitely don't have to worry about being flat chested."

She chucked the nearest throw pillow at his head, but her eyes glimmered with appreciation as she offered him a grateful smile.

"Thanks Soul."

When Soul heard the door to Maka's bedroom click shut, he sat back down on the sofa.

'Maybe,' he thought as he placed his feet on the glass table in front of him, 'I should walk in on Maka's freedom more often.'

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please Review.**


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